Of course, Ronald Weasley, being himself, had not thought of the effect of this note either, until he caught sight of Harry running down the corridor, obviously looking for something.

"Hey! Harry! What is it?" he called to his friend.

Harry's face lit up- he had obviously been looking for Ron- and he headed towards his friend. "Ron! I've been looking everywhere, where did you…" His voice tailed off as he bent over, trying to catch his breath.

"What's up, mate?" Ron asked him, curiously.

"The… what's up? Hermione, that's what! She's sitting in the common room, crying her eyes out…" Harry took another deep breath and carried on. "I don't know if you know anything at all about it…but if you do you'd better apologise…"

Ron's face had turned white behind the many freckles that adorned it. "Yeah, yeah, actually if you don't mind, Harry, I think I will…" He set off at a run in the direction of the common room, and then stopped and turned back.

"Should I?" he asked Harry, who stared at him in disbelief, finally drawing breath to yell, "Are you out of your mind? Go!!"

Ron set off again, leaving Harry behind, shaking his head at his friend's stupidity.

Hermione had calmed down by the time he reached the common room, so Ron headed straight to her.

"Hermione, what's the matter? I'm sorry about the note, all right? I just didn't think-"

"Yes, Ronald Weasley, you didn't think!" came the angry reply as Hermione rose from her chair. "When have you ever thought about anything? I thought I could trust you, but no! You really are just what I thought you were- a stupid, immature idiot who only cares about himself and doesn't worry about anyone else or what effects his actions will have on anyone else!"

Ron's eyes widened as he thought of a suitable reply. "Um…come with me to Hogsmeade?"

Hermione just stared at him for a while, and then shook her head, completely appalled by Ron's total lack of caring. "Ronald, you just don't get it, do you?" she yelled, and then, bending closer to his ear, she said, "It. Is. Over."

Ron didn't say anything as Hermione slammed out of the common room; he just gazed after her with tears in his eyes.

Ginny approached him gingerly, kneeling down by his side. "Ron?" she asked, hesitantly.

Ron gave a sniff but didn't answer.

"Oh Ron, please don't cry!" Ginny said, her voice breaking down as she saw how upset her brother was.

"Ginny, I'm not crying, okay?" Ron almost shouted at her, and then rose from his seat and stormed off, leaving Ginny in tears behind him.

When Harry came into the common room a few minutes later, Ginny was just wiping her eyes. He immediately headed in her direction and crouched down in front of her.

"Gin? What's wrong? What happened?" he asked.

"Ron," she said, shortly. "He yelled at me."

"Oh great…" Harry said, rolling his eyes. "So I guess he and Hermione aren't back together then."

Ginny rolled her eyes as well, but at Harry. "Harry, are you mad? Of course they're not!"

Harry snorted. "Yeah, I can see that. Hermione is being so unreasonable these days- I mean, who cares about a silly little sentence anyway?"

Ginny stood up, arms folded. "What's wrong with a…" It was her turn to shake her head in disbelief.

"And I thought Ron was bad! You really don't understand, do you? It's boys and their stupid selfishness," she said, more to herself than Harry, before giving him a look of utter disgust and leaving him crouching in front of her chair.

Harry didn't even try to call her back.